Addicted to food...

AniyahsMommy324

Is that possible? I seriously feel like I am. I do good with my food choices for a couple days or weeks, but then I always have setbacks. If food is there, I'll eat it. I'm a stay at home mom, so a lot of my eating is bored eating. And, I lost a daughter in October, so a lot of it is emotional eating. Food seems to always be the answer in my house How can I get over the mental part of it, and actually start moving in the right direction?! Nothing seems to last

Firefighterwife

First of all, let me extend my deepest sympathies in the loss of your daughter. I'm not sure what the circumstances were (nor do I need to know them) but I can certainly understand a bit of what you are feeling (no one except you can say exactly how it felt). I lost my baby at 10 weeks and it was devastating. It didn't help that I am an emotional eater. I do believe you can be addicted to food but you can retrain yourself to be addicted to healthier food. I have not been eating well or exercising but that is going to change. I cannot wait until my body is falling apart to start helping myself (I'm 46 and happily married (18 years and counting!) with two beautiful children. As far as the mental part, I would recommend you find a good therapist (I have an amazing therapist) it is so HELPFUL! I so understand about moving in the right direction and not lasting...but we have to want it to happen and keep trying. I've been losing and gaining and losing and gaining and gaining for awhile BUT this is going to change and I hope I can encourage you as I encourage myself! Hope to hear from you soon.

Valerie

DakotaKeogh

My heart goes out to both of you for the loss of your children. I have three wonderful daughters and cannot fathom the experience of losing one. Nor do I want to.

Just keep on trying. The only thing that matters is that you never give up. Never give up on yourself.

God bless you.

Ljvalsan

yes, it is possible, anything that can bring a person pleasure can become addictive. Remember that. I for one can tell you that a lot of the cravings thaat you might get are candy or sugary snacks. Sugar causes cravings. A craving can last up to 20 minutes. to try to control it you can have a fruit. Fruit have natural sugars and can reduce those cravings. After like three or four days those cravings start to go away and you feel more in control of what you eat. no joke, i am a food addict myself. If you are not fighting to get it you are fighting to stay away from it. it is always a battle.

AniyahsMommy324

First of all, let me extend my deepest sympathies in the loss of your daughter. I'm not sure what the circumstances were (nor do I need to know them) but I can certainly understand a bit of what you are feeling (no one except you can say exactly how it felt). I lost my baby at 10 weeks and it was devastating. It didn't help that I am an emotional eater. I do believe you can be addicted to food but you can retrain yourself to be addicted to healthier food. I have not been eating well or exercising but that is going to change. I cannot wait until my body is falling apart to start helping myself (I'm 46 and happily married (18 years and counting!) with two beautiful children. As far as the mental part, I would recommend you find a good therapist (I have an amazing therapist) it is so HELPFUL! I so understand about moving in the right direction and not lasting...but we have to want it to happen and keep trying. I've been losing and gaining and losing and gaining and gaining for awhile BUT this is going to change and I hope I can encourage you as I encourage myself! Hope to hear from you soon.

Valerie

Thank you! She was stillborn, at fullterm due to a rare mutation of my placenta. So that adds to a lot of my emotional eating, because it was so sudden and undetected, and because she was fullterm. I have toyed with the idea of a therapist, but have yet to do it. But I'm starting to believe I need one because nothing seems to be working in my own in terms of overcoming my mental junk (lol) to be able to start losing weight. I'm hoping I can just slowly start taking it one day at a time and making better, healthier choices! Thank you for replying

JustPeachy044

I too extend my deepest sympathies in the loss of your beautiful child. No matter how old she was, born or unborn.

I agree with the previous poster, a good therapist can help you work through your grief. In the absence of resources to see one, a good friend who knows how to listen and not feel the need to give you trite b/s is recommended. I think you need to find some way to work through the grief in a healthy way.

As women we are often expected to carry the load, to hold it together, and take care of everyone else. We put that pressure on ourselves as much as (or more than) anyone else does. I too am an emotional eater, it is not uncommon. It is a challenge to recognize and take steps to beat, but you can do it. Personally, I had to learn to recognize my triggers and find other ways to deal with the emotions, whether it be grief, anger, boredom, or anything else. I still struggle, especially with "angry eating"--I get mad and feel a loss of control of a situation and I just want to eat everything in sight. I don't get how that is supposed to help me, it doesn't. But at least now that I am aware of that, I can tell myself to stop, walk out of the kitchen, and work to find a more productive way to address the problem. It doesn't always happen (the productive problem solving), but I can usually catch myself before I eat so much I sink into self-loathing and despair. It can be a snowball effect if and when that happens.

Maybe write down your triggers that start you eating. beside that list, make a list of things you will do instead. Start logging your food here on MFP, and log EVERYTHING. That is enough in itself to sometimes stop a "food bender". it's a place to start!

AniyahsMommy324

I too extend my deepest sympathies in the loss of your beautiful child. No matter how old she was, born or unborn.

I agree with the previous poster, a good therapist can help you work through your grief. In the absence of resources to see one, a good friend who knows how to listen and not feel the need to give you trite b/s is recommended. I think you need to find some way to work through the grief in a healthy way.

As women we are often expected to carry the load, to hold it together, and take care of everyone else. We put that pressure on ourselves as much as (or more than) anyone else does. I too am an emotional eater, it is not uncommon. It is a challenge to recognize and take steps to beat, but you can do it. Personally, I had to learn to recognize my triggers and find other ways to deal with the emotions, whether it be grief, anger, boredom, or anything else. I still struggle, especially with "angry eating"--I get mad and feel a loss of control of a situation and I just want to eat everything in sight. I don't get how that is supposed to help me, it doesn't. But at least now that I am aware of that, I can tell myself to stop, walk out of the kitchen, and work to find a more productive way to address the problem. It doesn't always happen (the productive problem solving), but I can usually catch myself before I eat so much I sink into self-loathing and despair. It can be a snowball effect if and when that happens.

Maybe write down your triggers that start you eating. beside that list, make a list of things you will do instead. Start logging your food here on MFP, and log EVERYTHING. That is enough in itself to sometimes stop a "food bender". it's a place to start!

Thank you! I will try to write down my triggers, the ones I can think of at least and try to be more aware of them. Today so far I'm doing good on my food choices and logging EVERYTHING that goes in my mouth. If I start to feel like eating everything in site, I've been distracting myself. Hopefully I can keep it up!!
And I totally agree with feeling like everything is put in the woman to hold it together!